Switching device



C. L. LILLEBERG.

SWITCHING DEVICE.

APPLICAHON FILED JULY 25, NH).

1,37 4,086. Patented Apr 5, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SH EET I.

C. L. LELLEBERG. swncfime DEVICE. APPLICATION E-ILED JULY 25. 1919- .2SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented Apr. 5, 1921.

PATENT orr es.

CHARLES I1. LILLEBERG, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SWITCHING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 5, 1921.

Application filed July 25, 1919. SerialNo. 313,296.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, CHARLES L. LILLEBERG,citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, the county of Cookand State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Switching Devices, of which the following is a full,clear, concise, and exact description.

My invention relates to switching devices and is of particular servicewhere employed in. the construction of timers for controlling theoccurrence of the ignition sparks that fire the charges in internalcombustion engines. The invention, however, is not to be limited to anyparticular use to which the switch is adapted.

The switching device of my invention includes relatively rotatablecontact members each in the form of an arm whose base portion istransverse to the axis of rotation of the rotatable contacting memberand whose contacting portion is angular to its base portion, thecontacting portions of these contacting members extending toward eachother. One of these contacting members is preferably in the form of abifurcated arm whose base portion is transverse to the axis of rotationof the rotatable contacting member and having two contact parts angularto said base portion and located nearer said axis of rotation than saidbase portion. The other contacting member is preferably in the form of arigid arm having a base portion transverse to said axis of rotation andextending from such axis toward the other contacting member, this rigidarm including a contact portion angular to its base portion andreceivable between the contacting parts upon the bifurcated contactingmember, the contacting portions upon the two contacting membersextending toward each other. i

The base portion of the bifurcated arm is preferably rigid and thecontacting branches of this arm are desirably stiff but are assembledwith the base portion in such a manner that each may move with respectto the other and both may move with respect to the base of the armwhereby the switching parts will not be ruptured in the event .of theirimproper assembly or the improper initiation of their assembly. Thebranches .of the bifurcated arm are assembled with the base thereof bymeans of spring mecha nism which maintains the branches and base in noma eli e ye whi h Permi the abnormal operation of the branches under thecircumstances mentioned. The contact part or parts movable upon the baseportion of the corresponding contacting member are, in accordance withmy present lnventlon, mounted to move in a plane or planes transverse tothe axis of rotation of the rotatable contacting member, the presentlnvention being specific to the invention more broadly claimed in myco-pending application Serial No. 292,112, filed Apr. 23,

I will explain my invention more fully by reference tothe'accompanyingdrawings showing the preferred embodiment thereof and 1n which Figure'lis a sectional view on l ne 11 of Fig. 2; Fig. 2 is a sectional view online 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a view s1m1lar to Fig. 2 with partsomitted to re veal details of construction; Fig. 4: is a perspectiveview showing a contact arm and its branches; Fig. 5 is a perspectiveview of a part of the structure illustrated in Fig. 4: taken in anotherdirection; Fig. 6 is a perspect ve view illustrating the componentelements of a bifurcated contact arm structure; and Fig. 7 is aperspective view of an lnsulating portion preferably entering into theponstruction.

Like parts are indicated by similar characters of reference throughoutthe different figures.

The rotatable contacting member has a sleeve portion 1 held upon theengine shaft 2 by any suitable means such, for example,

as the nut 3'screwed upon the shaft and 7 against a. washer 4 inabutting engagement with the inner end of the sleeve, the base portion 5of this arm branching from one end of the sleeve to be transverse to theaxis of rotation of the shaft and of the contactmg arm. This contactingarm also includes a contacting portion 6 which is anchored to its baseportion as indicated clearly in Fig. 2. There are a number of contactingmembers successively engageable by and each complemental to thecontacting arm 5, 6, when the invention is embodied in a timing switchor has other embodiments effecting the successive closure of independentcircuits. Each of these complemental contact members desirably includesa rigid base portion 7 anchored to the casing 8 of the switch by meansof a bolt 9 passing through an opening 10 in a part 11 of the switchcasing which part is preferably cylindrical and co? balance of passingthrough openin *ing axial with the shaft 2. An annular depression 12 ispreferably formed upon the interior of the cylindrical casing portion 11if the casing is formed by a stamping operation so that an annular seat13 coaxial with the circular opening may be formed upon the exterior ofthe cylindrical casing portion 11 to receive an insulating disk 14. Ablock of insulating material is disposed between each arm base 7 and thecylindrical portion 11 which has a pocket 16 formed therein forreceiving said block and for giving the arm a predeterm'ned positionwith respect to the timer casing. The disk 14L is in the nature of nutwhich is threaded upon the stem of the bolt 9. Theblock 15 has anopening therethrough through which the stem of the bolt slides, thisopening closely engaging the stem of the bolt. As the block 15 isafforded a predetermined position with'respect to the timer casing bymeans of the pocket 16 in the casing, and as the nut 14 is also given apredetermined location with respect to the timer casing, it follows thatthe bolt 9 receives a predetermined location. In order that the base 7of each arm may also have a predetermined position with respect to thethe fixed parts, I form it with projections or lugs 17 which entercorresponding depressions in the block 15. The assembly or" the arm withthe casing and the parts that are employed to define the position ofthisarm with respect to the casing is maintained by means of a metallic locknut 18.

To guard the contact arms that are stationarily mounted upon the casingand thoroughly to prevent electrical connection therebetween, I employshields 19 of insulating material that are interposed between the bases7 of the arms and the insulating blocks 15, the stems of the bolts 9also passing through the insulating shields 19. The adjacent ends of theshields engage each other and are inwardly bent or curled where theyengage each other to hold the shields in fixed relation with respect toeach other and to serve as insulating elements interposed between theadjacent contact arm 7 and parts carried thereby.

Each contact arm base is desirably formed with a deflected inner end 7that is trans verse to the axis of the shaft 2. The contact parts 22, 23that are carried by each arm base are pivoted upon the same sides of thecorresponding arm end '7. The base portion 7 is formed at one end withan open- 24. and at its other end carries a crossshaped lug 25. Theparts 26 and 27 upon which the contacts 22 and 23 are carried are atright angles to these contacts and parallel with the base portion 7, thepivot pin 28 gs 29, 30 and 31 in the elements 26, 27 and 7 to effect thepivotal assembly-oat these parts, this pivot pin being permanentlyassembled with the base portion 7. A spring anchorage block 32 1s uponthe other side of the base portion 7, this block 32 having a slot 33formed in one end thereof and a T-extension 34 at the other end thereof,this T-extension carrying a lug 35. The stem of the T-extension ismovable in the opening at and the base portion of the cross-shaped lug25 is movable in the slot 33. A single coiled spring 36 is anchored atone end to the cross-shaped lug 25 and at the other end to the lug 35,this spring serving to maintain the fiat ends of the portions 26, 2'? inengagement with the head of the T- shaped lug 34. In the normaloperation of the switch the contact 6 in entering the space between thecontacts 22 and 23 will operate the parts 26 and 27 so that their heels37 and 38 will turn upon and move toward each other along the head ofthe T-shaped lug 34, the extent of the move ment or the part 27 beinglimited by the lug 39 upon the base portion 7 and the extent of movementof the part 26 being limited by the part of the base 7, 7 that extendslongitudinally of the axis of rotation. \Vhen the contact 6 has passedits engagement with the parts 22 and 23, the spring 36 serves to restorethe parts 22 and 23 to their normal relation, the extent of thisrestoring movement being limited by the head of the T-shaped lug 3awhich maintains the contacting parts 22, 23 a slight space apart. Thecontacting parts 22 and 23 diverge at the ends of these parts so thatthe contacting part 6 may enter therebetween in either direction ofrotation thereof.

As illustrated, the contacting parts of each pair 22, 23 are movablewith respect to their base i 7 and with respect to each other in a planetransverse to the axis of rotation.

It will be observed that the portions 7, 7, constituting the baseportions of the stationary contact members and the base portion 5 of therotatable contact member, are not in the plane of rotation of thecontacting portion 6 at the circle of rotation of this contactingportion and that all of the parts 6, 22 and 23 are, in effect, in thesame plane where they engage whereby the contacting portion 6 passesover the base portion 7, 7 irrespective of the direction of rotation ofthe contacting portion 6. The contacting parts 22 and 23 extend towardthe contacting part 6 but not far enough to engage the base portion 5and likewise the contacting portion 6 extends toward the contacting part22 and 23 but not far enough to en gage the base portion 7, 7 so thatthe base portion of one contact or set of contacts can not be engaged bythe contacting portion of the other. In the preferred embodiment of theinvention the contact parts 6, 22 a d 23 are normally disposed parallellOO with the axis of rotation of the shaft 2 but the invention isnot tobe limitedtoi this characteristic.

lVhile I have herein shown and particularly described the preie redembodiment of my invention I do not wish to be limited tothe precisedetails of" construction shown as changes may readily be made withoutdeparting from but having thus described my invention I claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent the following i 1. An electricalswitching device including relatively rotatable contacting members eachin the form of an arm having a base portion and a contacting portionangular to the base portion said contacting portions being in the circleof rotation of the contacting portion of the rotatable contactingmember, the contacting portion upon each contacting member extendinglongitudinally of the axis of rotation toward the base portion ofthe'other contacting member, the base portions of said contactingmembers being without the plane of rotation of the contacting portion ofthe rotatable contacting member at the circle of rotation of thiscontacting portion whereby said base portions are not engaged by saidcontacting portions, the contacting portion upon one of said contactingmembers being movable with respect to the base of this member in a planethat is transverse to the axis of rotation; and a spring yieldinglyholding this contacting portion in relation to its base.

2. An electrical switching device including relatively rotatablecontacting members each in the form of an arm having a base portion anda contacting portion angular to the base portion, said contactingportions being in the circle of rotation of the contacting portion ofthe rotatable contacting member, the contacting portion upon eachcontacting member extending longitudinally of the axis of rotationtoward the base portion of the other contacting member, the baseportions of said contacting members being without the plane of rotationof the contacting portion of the rotatable contacting member at thecircle of rotation oi this contacting portion whereby said base portionsare not engaged by said contacting portions, the contacting portion uponone of said contacting members being movable with respect to the base ofthis member in a plane that is transverse to the axis oi rotation; and aspring yieldingly holding this contacting portion in relation to itsbase which is turned to extend transversely of the axis of rotation andalong said movable contacting portion to define the normal position ofthis contacting portion. 1

3. An electrical switching device including relatively rotatablecontacting members each in the form of anarm having a base i being inthe circle of the spirit of my invention,,

portion and a' contacting portion angular. to the base port1on, saidcontactlng portlons tion of the other contacting member, the

otsa d contacting members base portions being without the plane of.rotation of the rotation of the con-i tacting portion of the rotatablecontacting contacting portion of the rotatable contact ing'member at thecircle of rotation of this contacting portion-whereby saidbase portionsarenot engaged by saidcontacting pore tions, one of said members havingtwo contacting parts movable with respect to each other and the base ofthis contacting member in planes that are transverse to the axis ofrotation and between which the contacting part of the other member isreceivable; and a spring yieldingly holding said movable contactingparts in relation to their base.

4:. An electrical switching device including relatively rotatablecontacting members each in the form of an arm having a base portion anda contacting portion angular to the base portion, said contactinportions being in the circle of rotation o the contacting portion of therotatable contacting member, the contacting portion upon each contactingmember extending longitudinally of the axis of rotation toward the baseportion of the other contacting member, the base portions of saidcontacting members being without the plane of rotation of the contactingportion of the rotatable contacting member at the circle of rotation ofthis contacting portion wherel by said base portions are not engaged bysaid contacting portions, one of said members having two contactingparts movable with respect to each other and the base of this contactingmember in planes that are transverse to the axis of rotation and betweenwhich the contacting part of the other member is receivable; and aspring yieldingly holding said movable contacting parts in relation totheir base and the con- -tactingpart supporting portion of which 6. Aswitching device including relatively rotatable contacting members eachin the form of an arm having a base portion and a contacting portionangular to the base portion, the contacting portion of one of saidcontacting members being divided into tWo parts pivotally mounted uponthe base portion carrying the same; a spring normally for maintainingsaid pivot parts in close relation with a space therebetween in circularalinement with the contacting part of the other contacting member; andan anchoring block having a T-headed extension and a slot, the T-headedextension being received in an opening formed the base carrying thepivoted contacting parts, which contacting parts are formed to haveextended engagement with the head of said T-headed extension, said basehaving a lug entering the slot in said block, the aforesaid spring beinganchored at one end to the latter lug and at the other end'to saidblock.

In Witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this twenty-second dayof July, A. D. 1919.

CHARLES L. LILLEBERG.

